Advertising impression determination

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for verifying an advertisement impression in a digital environment are provided. In some aspects, methods of the subject technology include operations for defining a portion of the digital environment as an impression area, wherein the impression area is associated with a tagged advertisement area, providing a stream of an advertisement to the tagged advertisement area, and updating advertising impression information stored in memory regarding the advertisement, wherein an advertising impression is based on the identification of the character within the impression area and the availability of an unobstructed line-of-sight between the character and the tagged advertisement area. In some aspects, computer readable media are also provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation and claims the prioritybenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/594,354 filed Oct. 7,2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,789,611, which is a continuation and claimsthe priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/992,014filed May 29, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,467,651, which is acontinuation and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/285,928 filed Oct. 5, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,984,388,which is a continuation and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/336,452, filed Jul. 21, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No.9,466,074, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/939,178 filed Jul. 10, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,795,076, which is acontinuation and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/241,229, filed Sep. 30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,574,074the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/780,995 filed Feb. 9, 2001 and entitled “In-Contents AdvertisingMethod, In-Content Advertising Server, and Program-Transferring Mediumfor Realizing In-Contents Advertising,” which claims the prioritybenefit of Japanese patent application number 2000-241861 filed Jul. 4,2000 and Japanese patent application number 2000-375096 filed Dec. 8,2000. The present application is also related to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/268,495 filed Oct. 9, 2002 and entitled “System and Methodfor Camera Navigation,” which claims the priority benefit of U.S.provisional patent application No. 60/328,488 filed Oct. 10, 2001. Thisapplication is further related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/240,655 filed Sep. 30, 2005 and entitled “Targeted Advertising.” Thedisclosure of all the aforementioned applications is incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to targeted advertising, such asan advertising system and method for dynamically displayingadvertisements in the context of video games (i.e., in-gameadvertising). More specifically, the present invention provides for thedetermination and tracking of advertising impressions in response tousers interacting with video games having in-game advertisingfunctionality.

Description of the Related Art

One of the many ways the advertising industry governs the success ofadvertising campaigns is through impressions. Impressions refer to theexposure a user has had to an ad or ad campaign. Impressions aretypically indexed in to the number of times a potential consumer views aparticular advertisement. For example, a print advertisement located ina kiosk in a shopping center might be viewed by 1,000 shoppers over thecourse of an afternoon. It could be said that the particularadvertisement enjoyed 1,000 impressions as each shopper walked past thekiosk and viewed the goods or services advertised therein.

High-traffic areas offer the opportunity for additional impressions. Forexample, an advertising kiosk located near the entrance of a popularstore in a shopping center might enjoy 10,000 impressions due to highshopper traffic whereas an advertising kiosk located near anunsuccessful store (e.g., a store going out of business) may enjoysignificantly less advertising impressions. As advertisers seek to havetheir goods and services viewed by as many persons as possible, there isobviously a demand for advertisement placement in high traffic areas.

The same theory applies to other advertising media. For example,newspapers and magazines with high circulation enjoy increasedadvertising revenue because those newspapers and magazines offer thepossibility for additional impressions whereas an unpopular orunsuccessful newspaper or magazine as do those publications circulatedin small towns or with niche (i.e., limited) readership. Anadvertisement on a billboard in Times Square in New York City willsimilarly offer more impressions (and demand higher revenue) than abillboard located adjacent a service road in rural Nebraska.

High traffic areas or high impression opportunities thus become avaluable asset in the advertising community. Assigning value to thoseassets offers a challenge as it is difficult to accurately measure howmany impressions a particular advertisement or advertising opportunitymight offer.

For example, television relies on the Nielsen TV ratings system wherebyan estimate of the number of people watching any particular televisionprogram at any particular time is provided. Based on statisticalinformation provided by these ratings, a determination of which programsare the most watched or the most popular can be made. These programsoften demand higher advertising fees as the increased popularity offersthe opportunity for additional impressions. For example, the Super Bowlis one of the most watched television events; Super Bowl XVI between theSan Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1982 saw almost 50% ofthe televisions in the United States ‘tuned-in’ to the game. As such,advertising ‘spots’ for the Super Bowl commonly demand exorbitant costs;a 30-second spot for Super Bowl XXXIV between the St. Louis Rams and theTennessee Titans in 2000 demanded close to $2M. A similarsupply-and-demand theory applies to regularly scheduled programs (e.g.,sitcoms). Popular television shows will demand more advertising dollarsdue to the increased opportunity for advertising impressions whereasless popular shows will demand considerably less.

Other methodologies exist for measuring advertising impressions. Forexample, and as previously noted, television and magazines traditionallylook to circulation to determine advertising rates whereas physicalreal-estate (e.g., bill boards) will look at a number of factorsincluding location, size of the bill board and general traffic in thearea. Radio and the audio media have similar ratings services, forexample, those offered by Arbitron Inc., in conjunction with comScoreMedia Metrix.

Certain advertising models have significant shortcomings. For example,pop-up Internet advertisements that appear in a Web browser aregenerally viewed as annoying and while usually gaining the attention ofthe individual ‘surfing’ the web, also garner their disdain for theinterruption of their browsing session often leading to immediatelyclosure of the pop-up window or, as is often the case today, the use ofa pop-up blocker whereby pop-up advertisements are prevented frompopping-up altogether.

Other technological innovations continue to offer additional advertisingchallenges. For example, digital video recorders (DVR) like thoseoffered by TiVo® provide the ability to ‘skip’ over advertisements byfast forwarding through the advertisement. Due to the digital nature ofthe television program stored on a TiVo® DVR, ‘skipping’ overadvertisements is simple and does not involve the jerkiness,fast-forward/back-up that accompanied VHS tape recorders and videotapes.

The advertising industry is, therefore, increasingly faced with theinability to target its advertisements to individuals due to thedecrease in readership in print media, unrefined advertisingmethodologies on the Internet and the inability to keep audiences‘captive’ whereby there is a certain degree of assurance that a consumerviews a particular advertisement (e.g., users can now ‘skip’ over adswhile remaining in front of their television during a televisionprogram).

The video game industry is quickly becoming one of the last bastions ofcaptive audience advertising. That is, the player of a video game oftenoffers their undivided attention to the video game environment so thatthey may remain aware of actions taking place in the game (e.g., beingattacked by an enemy, discovering a cache of weapons or treasure trove,identifying a ‘lane’ through which to navigate a running back in afootball game). Video games, therefore, offer the opportunity forplacing ads before a captive and extremely attentive audience.

There have been—and continue to be—numerous cases wherein actualadvertisements of advertisers are deployed and displayed within a videogame environment. A classic example is in a driving game, whereinadvertisements are pasted onto billboards around a driving course asillustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,946,664 and 6,539,544, the disclosuresof which are incorporated herein by reference. With such in-gameadvertising, the software publishing company that creates the video gameidentifies an advertiser, creates texture data based on ad copy providedby the advertiser and places this texture data representative of anadvertisement in the video game environment (i.e., posting theadvertisement on the billboard).

Online and networked gaming is increasing in popularity throughout theworld. With this increase in popularity, there is an expectation thatgaming networks assemble standards and evolve into an advertisingchannel such as television and radio. As a part of this increase andevolution, there is a need for a framework and system for advertisersand media providers to manage and track advertising in video games andother digital environments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention may be configured to provide a system and methodfor deploying and tracking advertisements across a video game network.

The present invention may be configured to provide a method fordetermining an impression area in a video game environment relative anadvertisement in the environment.

The present invention may also be configured to provide a method foridentifying an obstruction in the impression area and redefining theimpression area based on the presence of the obstruction.

The present invention may also be configured to provide a method forverifying an advertising impression in a video game environment when avideo game character is present in an impression area with anunobstructed view of a related advertisement.

The present invention may also be configured to further provide a methodfor determining the time a video game character is present in animpression area with an unobstructed view of an advertisement.

The present invention may also be configured to provide a system fordetermining when an advertising impression has been made in a video gameenvironment.

The present invention may also be configured to provide a system forprocessing a payment based on the presence of a video game character inan impression area in a video game environment.

The present invention may also be configured to allow advertisers toidentify popular games and/or effective advertisements to allow for theestablishment of proper pricing models, receive feedback on theirproducts, market to various segments and deploy custom programmingrelating to advertising campaigns in an adaptable in-game advertisingnetwork.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates one specific exemplary in-game advertising system asmay be utilized in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates one exemplary flow of communication between membersof the in-game advertising system as illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the exemplary tagging of assets in a videogame environment;

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary advertising structure information as may beused in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary end-user client device as may be used inan embodiment of the in-game advertising system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method of in-game advertising uponactivation of game program comprising tagged assets for advertising;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary advertisement output method when gamedata is provided to a video game client device;

FIG. 8 illustrates line-of-sight obstacles as may be found in a videogame environment, in one embodiment in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a positional relationship between a game characterand an advertisement, in one embodiment in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a second positional relationship between a gamecharacter and an advertisement, in one embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate two positional relationships between a gamecharacter and an advertisement relative obstacles in an impression area,in one embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary line-of-sight determination methodologyto be used in determining the occurrence of an advertising impression,in one embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 13A-13B illustrates the correlation between an impression counterand a positional relationship of a game character and an advertisement,in one embodiment in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 14 illustrates an alternative correlation between an impressioncounter and a positional relationship of a game character and anadvertisement, in one embodiment in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary in-game advertising system 100 as may beutilized in an embodiment of the present invention. The in-gameadvertising system 100 of FIG. 1 comprises a network 110. Network 110may be, for example, a cable television network, a broadband wirelessnetwork or on optical fiber network. The present invention does notimpose any limitation with regard to the particular type ofcommunication medium(s), whether the network is homogeneous (e.g.,end-to-end wireless) or whether the network is proprietary, open or acombination of the two. Network 110 only need provide the means tocommunicate amongst the various servers and/or terminals coupled to thenetwork 110 and make up the advertising system 100 of an embodiment ofthe present invention. Network 110 may be a communications network, adata network or a combination of the two.

As shown in FIG. 1, communicatively coupled to the network 110 is acontent server 120 as offered by a content provider 120; an advertisingserver 130 as offered by an advertising agency, the server comprising orcoupled to an advertising database 140, the advertising database 140comprising advertisement information data. The exemplary system 100illustrated in FIG. 1 further comprises content authors 150 ₁ . . . 150_(N); advertisers 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N); and end-user client devices 170₁ . . . 170 _(N). Some embodiments of the present system may furthercomprise a payment processing center 180 and an advertising contentcreator 190.

The content server 120 may distribute digital content. Content may berequested from networked devices operating in a gaming network. In oneembodiment, the content is requested by end-user client devices 170 ₁ .. . 170 _(N). The content distributed by content server 120 may comprisevideo game content (e.g., actual video games, or portions thereof,accessed by end-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N)) as well asother forms of digital media (e.g., music and video). The content server120 may further provide for the storage of digital content. The contentserver 120 may store such content locally (e.g., as part of a storagearea network) or at a location physically remote from the content server120 but otherwise communicatively coupled to the server 120 therebyallowing for retrieval and transmission of the content to end-userclient devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N). Content served by the contentserver 120 may be served as the result of a push or pull operation.

The advertising server 130, as previously noted, may be managed by anadvertising agency providing for the distribution of advertising contentto larger audiences (e.g., end-users). The advertising server 130 mayserve audio, video, audio/video and still image content. Content servedby the advertising server 130 may be served as the result of a push orpull transaction. Advertising database is a storage mechanism foradvertising content such as the aforementioned video and audio content.While advertising images are the most prevalent type of advertisingcontent, advertising content may further comprise element types such asprograms, objects, state data, control data, textures, bitmap images,compressed images, sequencing data, authentication data, public key andprivate key. Advertising database 140 may be integrated with advertisingserver 130 or may be physically remote from the advertising server butotherwise providing a communicate coupling allowing for the retrieval ofcontent from the database 140 for subsequent transmission to end-userclient devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) Content authors 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N)are those entities that develop content for distribution to end-users,for example, video games. Content authors 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) may alsodevelop audio, video and/or audio/video content. Content developed bycontent authors 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) may be generated in any form ofmedia. For example, content may be developed in an optical disk formator in non-volatile memory such as a flash card. Content may also beprovided in a pure data format to be transmitted and hosted by anotherparty. For example, content author 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) may develop avideo game but never commercially distribute the content in a physicalform of media. Instead, the content may be FTP′d or otherwisetransmitted to content server 120 and stored in an appropriate storagemeans for subsequent delivery to end-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170_(N).

Advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) is any entity seeking to place anadvertisement in the digital content created by content author 150 ₁ . .. 150 _(N). Advertiser may be from any field of endeavor and need notnecessarily be in the entertainment or video game industry.

End-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) are those devices allowingan end-user to access digital content. For example, in the case of avideo game, the appropriate end-user client device 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N)may be a home entertainment video game system such as a PlayStation3from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. In the instance of digital contentbeing, for example, an on-demand movie or other video program, theend-user client device 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) may be a set-top cable box.End-user client device 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) may, in other instances, bea portable device that may be temporarily coupled to a more permanentdevice (e.g., a desktop computer) to allow for the transfer or updatingof digital content via a USB cable as would be the case in, for example,a portable music device such as an MP3 player.

Optional payment processing center 180 allows for the execution ofvarious payment and/or monetary transfer transactions. These paymentsmay be achieved, for example, through direct deposit, automatic funds orwire transfers as is appropriate and/or available. Payment processingcenter 180 may, for example, be a bank offering these services. Inanother example, payment processing center 180 may be an on-line escrowagent communicatively coupled to a variety of banks wherein the escrowagent instructs and/or receives notice of various monetary transactionson behalf of various entities in the exemplary in-game advertisingsystem 100 (e.g., advertisers 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) and content providersauthors 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N)).

Advertising content creator 190 is an entity that authors and/ordevelops advertisements on behalf of advertisers 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N)for placement into digital content. In some instances, advertisingcontent creator 190 may only digitally author content. For example,certain advertising copy (be it audio, video, print or any combinationof the three) may have already been created in a non-digital format. Inthose instances, advertising content creator 190 would manipulate (e.g.,digitize) the advertising copy so that it may be placed into the greatercontext of digital content that is offered by the content server 120. Inother instances, advertising content creator may take a script for anadvertisement and create the same (e.g., film video, record audio andthen combine the two with various special effects). Advertising contentcreator 190 may also utilize program objects and program scriptsincluding commands related to special effects, program elements, controlsignals, messaging and various protocols. In still other instances,advertising content creator may develop advertisement campaigns fromscratch (e.g., the advertising concept for a campaign) and subsequentlycreate the ad content to correspond to that campaign.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow of communication 200 betweenmembers of an exemplary in-game advertising system 100. The contentauthor 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) provides the advertising server 130 withadvertisement structure information in step 205. The content and makeupof advertisement structure information is discussed in the context ofFIG. 4. The advertisement structure information is registered in theadvertising database 140 of the advertisement server 130. The operatorof the advertisement server 130 informs the advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160_(N) of advertisement information such as title, contents, etc., of anewly-registered title in informing step 210. Informing of theadvertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) may occur by traditional mail,electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any otheravailable communication medium.

The advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) can access the advertisement server130 and can view the advertisement information in viewing step 215 andfurther apply for an advertisement buy from, for example, a web-browserscreen in application step 220. Once the advertisers 160 ₁ . . . 160_(N) have been established, advertiser specified information such asadvertiser name, time slot, and time period of an advertisement areprovided to an appropriate content author 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) from theadvertisement server 130 in notification step 225. Notification mayoccur by traditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instantmessenger, chat or any other available communication medium.

Advertiser specified information and advertisement structure informationare also supplied to the advertisement content creator 190 via theadvertisement server 130 in ordering step 230. The advertisement contentcreator 190 creates advertisement content (e.g., the advertisement)based on the advertiser specified information and advertisementstructure information. The completed advertisement information such asbitmap data or other graphic, audio and/or video data is delivered bythe advertisement content creator 190 to the advertisement server 130 indelivery step 235.

Notification of the receipt of the completed advertisement iscommunicated by the advertisement server 130 to the advertiser 160 ₁ . .. 160 _(N) in completion step 240 by traditional mail, electronic mail,listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any other availablecommunication medium.

The advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) can view the completed advertisementinformation on the advertisement server 130 in viewing/approval step245. If the advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) approves of the completedadvertisement content (e.g., by pressing an ‘OK’ button in aweb-interface), the advertisement content is confirmed and an itineraryis by the advertisement server 130 to the content author 250 bytraditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger,chat or any other available communication medium in delivery detailconfirmation step 250. The itinerary delivered in step 250 may compriseinformation related to the advertiser, time slot, period, advertisingfees and so forth.

In registration step 255, the content provider 120 correlates certainadvertisement information and advertisement content with digitalcontents to be delivered. That is, the content provider 120 recognizesthat particular advertisements are to be delivered with particularportions of digital content and so forth. This correlation ofinformation may comprise authoring new derivative files reflecting bothadvertisement information and digital content/advertising programs), theembedding of metadata in the digital contents or the implementation ofobject oriented programming wherein certain data files (e.g., digitalcontents/advertising programs) call upon other distinct files (e.g.,advertising information). The metadata may also comprise information asit pertains to advertising information such as how long a game charactermust be present within an impression area defined within the video game.The metadata may further provide information defining the parameters ofthe impression area and certain quality factors as are discussed herein.Tracking parameters and feedback information and/or instructions mayfurther be imbedded in the metadata of the advertisement. Suchinformation may also be contemporaneously downloaded with theadvertising information as a separate file whereby the advertisinginformation calls upon certain information related to impressions,reporting and so forth.

A user accesses and/or requests digital content (e.g., a drivingsimulation video game) using end-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170_(N) in content application step 260. As a result of the application forcontent, the user may start to download the content in download step265. Alternatively, if the user already has a particular portion of thedigital content, this step may involve presenting the user with anupdate as to that content. This step may also comprise unlocking digitalcontent that is already in possession of the user. Step 265 may alsoinvolve authenticating removable media, accommodating registration witha game network or a game ‘lobby’ or ‘waiting room’ and so forth

In some embodiments of the present invention, the user may accessdigital content using permanent physical media (e.g., an optical disc).The physical media may have embodied thereon instruction for accessingthe present in-game advertising system 100 as it pertains specificallyto advertising content versus actual video game data. In additionalembodiments of the present invention, the user may access a combinationof advertising content and actual game data via the exemplary in-gamesystem 100 (e.g., new advertising content and new game levels publishedafter the initial release of the game on physical media). Suchembodiments are discussed in further detail below.

During the download of content and/or advertisements in step 265, thecontent provider 120 notifies the advertisement server 130 of thedownload request as it relates to particular advertising material instep 270, such correlations between content and advertising havingpreviously been made in registration step 255. The advertisement server130 then transmits the necessary advertisement data corresponding to theuser download to the content provider 120 in step 275. If necessary, theadvertising data provided to content provider 120 can be updated overtime relative the content being downloaded (e.g., new ad copy).

After downloading the digital contents (including advertisementinformation or content in ad information delivery step 275), the user(through end-user client device 170) renders the advertisementinformation within the game contents, the advertisement informationhaving been provided via advertisement server 130. As noted above, someembodiments of the present invention may access solely advertisinginformation or a combination of new game content and advertisinginformation rather than an entire game.

The state of the advertisement, such as the number of distributions orimpressions made, may be provided to the advertisement server 130 and,if necessary or desired, to the advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) inadvertisement status notification step 280 so that certaindeterminations made be made, for example, the success of an ad campaignwith regard to the number of impressions made.

As a result of the notification in step 270, the advertisement server130 can track the advertisements that have been or are being downloadedto an end-user client device 170. Utilizing certain ad impression andtracking methodologies as discussed herein, the advertisement server 130can receive feedback in connection with advertisement impressions.Information concerning impressions or other advertisement feedback maybe generated at the end-user client device 170, which has beenconfigured with the necessary software to either directly or indirectlyimplement impression tracking.

Direct impression tracking may be based on software configured at theend-user client device 170 and that operates in conjunction with a gamekernel and is further configured to participate in networkcommunications such that textures and objects or indexes to textures andobjects related to an advertising campaign may be received. The trackingsoftware may directly monitor the angle and position of variousadvertising asserts with respect to changing camera perspectivespresented to the user who controls the camera perspective utilizing agame controller. Indirect impression tracking may occur through a serveror a session master client in a peer-to-peer network participating,facilitating, arbitrating or interrogating functions associated with thecampaign program (e.g., extraction of data necessary to yield thedetermination of an ad impression). Hence, ad impression determinationsmay occur at, for example, ad server 130 or advertiser 160 in responseto information generated or signals sent from the end-user client device170.

Ad impression data may be batched or transmitted over the network atperiodic intervals. Transmission of impression data may occur inaccordance with a schedule or in conjunction with other processes ortransmissions used to facilitate game play. Impression data may also bestreamed or pulled during an inquiry received over the network. Anynetwork element of the advertising system 100 may facilitate orinfluence the transmission of impression data.

Advertisement impressions may be calculated in various ways. Forexample, an advertisement located in a virtual kiosk in a virtualshopping center might be viewed by 1,000 gamers over the course of anafternoon. It could be said that the particular advertisement enjoyed1,000 impressions as each gamer walked their gaming character past thekiosk and viewed the goods or services advertised therein. Impressionsmay also be calculated through a time threshold index. For example, animpression may be earned, triggered, counted or computed after a userhas been exposed to the advertisement for a particular period of time.In this example, an impression may occur after 30 seconds of exposure bythe user to an advertisement. The impression may also be tracked andcomputed based on one or more user's continuous or distributed exposuresto the advertisement on the virtual kiosk or as part of an overall adcampaign.

The advertisement content receiving, impression tracking and impressiondata feedback transmission systems of the present invention may residein a single software element or in multiple software elements. Softwareelements may be distributed in whole, or part, on one or more processorsor across a local or wide area network.

Impression tracking software may be provided as a result of downloadinga necessary software module during download step 265 or the softwarehaving been installed directly on physical media (e.g. an optical disk)read by the end-user client device 170 or, alternatively, installeddirectly in the end-user client device 170. Tracking software or variouscomponents of the software may also be installed in the various othercomponents of the advertising system 100 dependent upon the particularconfiguration of an embodiment.

Similar or identical advertisement state information may be provided tocontent author 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N). This notification is made so thatthe advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) may be properly invoiced by thecontents author 150 ₁ . . . 150 _(N) in accordance with any number ofpayment plans as are discussed herein. The advertisement server 130 mayfurther provide this information to payment processing center 180 toallow for automatic billing and payment in step 285. These payments maybe achieved, for example, through direct deposit, automatic funds orwire transfers or any other money transfer methodology as is appropriateand/or available.

The advertising system 100 and methodology of the present invention andas described in an exemplary embodiment through FIGS. 1 and 2 may beimplemented over various communication and data networks.

It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention,certain elements of the in-game advertising system 100 may be combinedor removed from the system 100 entirely without compromising theoperations of the system 100. For example, an embodiment of the in-gameadvertising system 100 as described herein may function without the needfor a payment processing center 180 as proper remuneration of parties inthe system 100 may have been established before hand or subject toanalysis of certain information after advertisement delivery. Similarly,the ad server 130 and related database 140 may be operated inconjunction with the advertisement content creator 190 or with contentprovider 120. Various approval and notification steps may also beomitted in the course of FIG. 2 so long as ad buys remain reserved, asis discussed in the context of tagging in FIG. 3, and the properadvertisements delivered relative those tagged assets. Additionally,exchanges of data or various notifications described above may be of adual-direction or exchanged between various components of system 100.For example, various notifications may be delivered to the ad server 130in addition by the ad server 130. In that regard, the present inventionis not meant to be limited by the exemplary data flows as depicted inFIG. 2 of the present invention.

While FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an in-game advertising system 100 whereincontent and advertising were both provided to an end-user client device170 over network 110, in some embodiments, a user may play game asembodied on a physical media such as an optical disk as may be utilizedin, for example, a PlayStation3 gaming console or for use in a desktopcomputer (e.g., to be inserted into a CD-ROM drive). In these instances,various libraries related to the game (e.g., character generation, userinterfaces, recognition of user controls and so forth) may be authoredand stamped directly onto the physical media instead of accessed ordownloaded via content provider 120.

In such an embodiment, advertising content may be embodied on thephysical media as well. As has been previously noted, however, suchadvertising schemes may be ineffective if the popularity of a game turnsout to be overrated (wherein an ad buy was likely overpriced) orunderrated (wherein an ad buy was likely under priced). Similarly, therelevance of certain advertisements may expire over the course of time(e.g., an advertised event occurs, the advertiser stops selling theproduct or goes out of business or the advertisements are mockadvertisements pertaining to a fictitious product but remain relevant inthe context of the game despite the passage of time).

In such physical media, a software client may be embodied in thephysical media, the client comprising the operating routines, resources,instructions and so forth that allow an end-user client device 170reading the optical media or other physical media to access the in-gameadvertising system 100 like that described in the present invention.Although the user may not necessarily be receiving video game content(e.g., the user does not download or directly access code and otherinformation related to the actual game), the user may still receiveadvertising content as the client pertains to the instructions andoperations necessary to access in-game advertising system 100 and foradvertising content to be provided to the system 100.

Through the provision of such an advertising client on physical media,it becomes possible for a variety of parties that develop games thatoperate on a particular end-user client device (e.g., the PS3 gameconsole) to interact with the in-game advertising system 100. Access tothe advertising client code may be subject to a fee charged by thein-game advertising system 100 operator, the costs of which may berecouped by the third-party game developer who passes those costs ontoadvertisers 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) that might wish to place content in aparticular video game as the popularity and advertising value of thatgame is assessed.

In order to enjoy the advertising opportunities offered by such a systemlike that described in the present invention, certain objects in a videogame may be ‘tagged’ as subject to advertising. For example, and asshown in FIG. 3A, the face of a billboard 300 may be ‘tagged’ 310 toindicate that an advertisement may be embedded in that location. In thisway, the in-game advertising system 100, via the advertising clientembodied in video game software, may identify these tagged assets andprovide advertising content that may be imposed through texturing orother graphic rendering techniques that make it appear as if theadvertisement was designed specifically for the billboard as shown FIG.3B (320). Such advertising content may be pushed or pulled to the videogame environment at an end-user client device 170 via the advertisingserver 130.

Alternatively, advertising content may be loaded into a game duringdevelopment and specific advertising campaigns may be purchased afterthe release of the game. In such an embodiment, advertisement purchasestrigger signaling event that index specific ads embedded in a game andunlock the advertisements. The ads are then associated with one or moretagged advertising assets. Preloaded advertisements may be replaceablein whole or in part over the network by a server or via a peer-to-peerarrangement. The replacement of advertisements may occur based upon auser profile, user interaction with an advertisement or ad campaign,geographic location of the user or control signals, messages orcommunications in connection with the advertisement.

Tags reflect not only the space where an advertisement may be placed butmay also reflect information such as size limitations, coloring andshading requirements, pointers to variables that track state andimpression data, functions and programs associated with theadvertisement, hyperlinks and mini-games associated with theadvertisement, user-profile filters and, in some embodiments, evenadvertising relevance. It should be noted that the said functions andprograms associated with the advertisement may access variables thattrack state and impression data. Tags may be numbered to reflectindividual assets wherein advertisements may be imposed or grouped toreflect that one particular advertiser 160 ₁ . . . 160 _(N) should haveone or more of their advertisements placed in these tagged groups (e.g.,all billboards on a city block). The tagging of assets and rules relatedto the tagging of assets may be imposed by content author 150. Rulesembedded in the tagged assets (e.g., ad size) may be recognized byadvertisement server 130 to ensure that the proper advertising contentis delivered to these tagged areas when called upon in the in-gameadvertising network 100.

Impressions of or exposure to advertising asset tags are capable ofbeing tracked independently or as a group. Additionally, impressions ofor exposure to advertising asset tags are capable of being aggregatedagainst a particular end-user device, versus a particular game or acrossa network in general. For example, an advertising server 130 may receivead impression information relating to impressions of specifically taggedassets (e.g., billboard A, billboard B, billboard C, etc.) or assets asthey apply to a particular advertiser (e.g., Coke, Pepsi or Sprite) atan end-user device or a plurality of devices. Impressions and exposuremay also be aggregated as they pertain to a particular game whereby thenumber of impressions generated for a particular advertiser in aparticular title are determined regardless of the particular asset onwhich the advertisements were placed. Similar aggregation of impressiondata can occur across an entire network regardless of the particulargame title whereby the total impressions for a particular advertiser aredetermined against all end-user client devices communicating with theadvertising network/system 100. Other aggregation parameters may beutilized at the particular needs of an advertiser.

Tagging is not limited to ‘print-like’ advertisements (e.g., abillboard). Tagging can also be related to other visual formats such asaudio and video. For example, a television in a video game may be taggedas to reflect that the user tuning the television to a particularchannel will cause a full motion video advertisement to be streamed.Various other advertisements could be streamed or rendered on additionalchannels subject to the whim of the game designer and the extent oftagging of assets for advertisement introduction.

Similarly, audio may be tagged for advertising purposes. For example, ifa user plays a video game with a radio (e.g., driving an automobile),the game designed can create different channels whereby actual musicfrom actual artists is played interspersed with various advertisementthat one might hear over the radio. Similarly, the actual music a userlistens to may be Top 40 hits or other popular music rather than aone-time generated, static soundtrack. In that way, the user may playthe game today or five years from now and be able to listen to not onlyrelevant advertisement but relevant music that is current and popularthe day the user plays the game. Similar attributes may be reserved forproviding real-time television programs and the like (e.g., short films,movie previews and so forth).

As a result of tagging and the delivery of relevant advertisements intothe user's game environment, tracking of advertisements may take place.That is, through in-game advertising system 100, it may be determinedexactly how many times a particular advertisement was introduced to anend-user client device 170 subject to any variety of conditions (e.g.,nationwide ad buys over the gaming network or geographic or targetedadvertisements). Additionally, and as described in FIGS. 10 and 12, forexample, it may be determined how many actual impressions of thatadvertisement occur.

It should be noted that while most networks and computing devices canprovide nearly instant rendering of dynamic advertising information, toidentify a particular portion of an environment where such dynamiccontent may be rendered (e.g., identifying a tag), sending relevantinformation to the advertising server 130 and retrieving the relevantadvertising information may take several seconds. If a user has a slowor congested communications network or a computing device with slowerprocessing power, rendering of that dynamic information may take evenlonger. If extended delays in rendering information result or, worse,stagnation of game play to wait for the rendering of the dynamicadvertising information, user's may lose interest in the video game orseek to deactivate the dynamic advertising aspects of the game.

As such, it is necessary for video games to identify references pointsin the video game environment (e.g., physical points in the video gameor subject to the accomplishment of certain tasks or reaching a certainlevel) to determine when the in-game advertising system 100 should beginto be accessed to acquire the necessary advertising information. Forexample, while a user may not have yet reached a billboard tagged torender advertising information, the user may have surpassed a referencepoint earlier in the game such the content begins to load in thebackground to provide for instant rendering when the user finally doesreach the billboard. An example of such dynamic loading methodology isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,403, which is incorporated herein byreference.

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary advertisement structure information 400 asmay be utilized in an embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, advertisement structure information 400 comprisesa header 410 identifying the content author 150, movie content data 420,which may be a few frames to the entire production, game program data430, object data 440 and multiple sets of texture data 450-460.

Certain embodiments of advertisement structure information 400 may beabbreviated, that is, it comprises demonstration or short previews oflarger portions of content (namely movie content 420 and game programdata 430). In other embodiments, only game program data 430 may bepresent, for example, for game downloads in the context of the presentin-game advertising system 100. In even further embodiments, forexample, wherein physical media comprises game program information, onlyheader 410 and certain ad information may be present.

Object data 440 comprises coordinate values of information of objects ina game environment, those objects made up of polygon apex data or thelike. Texture data 440-450 comprises pattern data of the object dataconverted from three-dimensional data to two-dimensional data throughvarious conversion techniques known in the art. For example, object data440 may related to a race car, texture data 450 and 460 would relate tocolor patterns and logo advertisements on the race car.

In an embodiment of the present invention utilizing advertisementstructure information 400, advertisement information AD₁ . . . AD₄ isembedded in the structure information 400. AD₁ may comprise informationsuch as a code indicating that advertisements may be inserted, thenature of the advertisement to be inserted, or information pertaining toframes, resolution and so forth. This data may be linked to theadvertisement server 130 whereby advertisements are inserted into a gameenvironment. Advertisement information AD₁ . . . AD₄ may also beembedded in physical media should it be necessary to download content asis described in certain embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary end-user clientdevice 500 (170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N)). End-user client device 170 ₁ . . .170 _(N) comprises a user terminal 510, monitor 520, main data storage530, sub-data storage 540, controller 550, and network interface 560that coupled the device 500 to network 110. In an entertainment systemrepresented by a home computer, the main data storage 530 may comprise ahard disk drive or a high-speed optical disk drive or the like. Sub-datastorage 540 in such an embodiment may comprise flash memory. Game dataG₁ . . . G_(N) comprise advertisement information AD₁ . . . AD₄ (asdescribed in FIG. 4) and is stored in the main data storage 530.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 of in-game advertising upon activationof game program (e.g., a downloaded program or one embodied in aphysical media) comprising tagged assets for advertising.

In optional step 610, a determination may be made whether a game programcomprising tagged assets has been activated. Once the digital contentshave been downloaded or accessed on physical media via end-user clientdevices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N), an advertisement delivery program onadvertisement server 130 may be contacted to request advertisingcontent. If an end-user client device 170 operating a game program withtagged assets has not been activated, the server 130 can await a requestor indication delivery of content is or will be necessary. If such aprogram has been activated, the advertising program may access theadvertising server 130 in step 620 and, in step 630, make notificationof the title of the digital contents activated on the end-user clientdevice 170 user address (e.g., a network address). Depending on thenature of the advertising content to be delivered (e.g., targetedadvertising as discussed herein), the advertisement server 130 reads outthe advertisement data in advertisement database 140 and transfers thiscontent to the user's address. In step 640, the end-user client device170 receives the advertising data under control of the advertisingprogram, records this in the main data storage 530 (FIG. 5) in step 650,and in step 660, generates a table of information indicating addressesin the main data storage for advertisement data, and the position of theadvertisement target (i.e., the tagged asset).

Once the game starts or action in the game continues in step 670, adetermination is made in step 680 with regard to whether or not thetagged asset has been reached in the game environment; that is, has theuser reached the position for inserting advertisement information. Ifthe determination is YES, in step 690 the corresponding advertisementdata is positioned at the corresponding position in the memory (i.e.,the tagged asset). In some embodiments, it may not be necessary foradvertisements to be inserted during game play as tags may be associatedwith advertising content upon game commencement, upon a level change orin response to a control signal relating to an in-game advertisingevent.

As has been previously noted, advertising information may be dynamicallyloaded prior to the content being needed. Larger advertising data—forexample, full motion video or audio—may be stored in main memory 530 ora graphics engine buffer (not shown) before action in the gamecommences. Other embodiments may place object data and/or texture datain the main memory 530 either immediately before the game action startsor before the data is used.

In FIG. 7, an exemplary method 700 for the operation of an advertisementserver 130 wherein advertising data is requested by the advertisingprogram is illustrated. In step 710, a determination is made regardingwhether or not there is access from the end-user client devices 170 ₁ .. . 170 _(N) and in the event this determination yields YES, the titleof the digital contents and the user address is received from theterminals end-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) in step 720, theadvertisement database 140 is referred to in step 730 whereinadvertisement data corresponding to the title of targeted advertising isread out in step 740. The advertisement data is transmitted to theend-user client devices 170 ₁ . . . 170 _(N) indicated by the useraddress received in step 750 and a transmission record for theadvertising data is created and/or updated in step 760. This recordreflects the number of times an advertisement is pushed to a userand/or, depending on feedback from the game environment, the number ofimpressions of that advertisement that occur whereby calculations as topayment or future valuation may be made.

The presently described in-game advertising system 100 may also beutilized to provide for the targeting of advertisements. Providinginformation over a communications network requires proper addressing ofthat information to an end-user. For example, a network address (e.g.,an Internet Protocol address) may be static and assigned to a particularuser. Identifying the actual user assigned to this address may beachieved through the network service provider (e.g., an ISP) that isassigned the network address and aware of the address of that user.Alternatively, a user may register with a content provider (e.g., anon-line gaming network), which may require providing specificinformation (e.g., name, e-mail, billing address and so forth).

In the case of acquiring end-user information from a network provider(e.g., through a commercial information sharing agreement), the acquiredinformation may reflect billing information (i.e., certain geographicinformation). Similarly, registering with the content provider mayreflect certain geographic information of the user (e.g., billinginformation). As a result of this geographic information, an advertisermay target geographic or region-specific advertisements.

For example, an end-user that resides in Boston may have little interestin receiving information concerning New York Yankee season ticket sales.Similarly, there would likely be little value to advertise a regionalproduct or service such as a restaurant in New York to someone whoresides in San Francisco where that product or service is not offered.National advertising campaigns concerning a regional product or servicewould likely be ineffective relative a return on the advertisinginvestment and may annoy the user receiving those advertisements,because the user may have no interest/access to the product or servicebeing advertised. In contrast, a user in San Francisco might haveinterest in receiving advertisements related to San Francisco Giantsseason ticket sales or a concert in the area; that is, geographicallyrelevant advertisements.

By acquiring geographic information of a user (either through directregistration or a service provider), advertisements can be targeted sothat the appropriate advertisement is directed to the user. In this way,advertising dollars are ensured a greater return on investment. Forexample, products localized to Boston are advertised to persons livingin the Boston area and products specific to San Francisco are advertisedto persons residing in the San Francisco area.

Geographic information may also be inferred from other availableinformation. For example, an IP address may identify a particular regionof a country through geo-location. While geo-location via an IP addressis not as accurate as explicit registration with a service provider, itprovides a greater degree of accuracy than would blind advertisementcampaigns. Thus, even dynamic IP addresses that are not consistentlyassociated with any particular user (but instead a service provider whomay recycle the address amongst a group of users) may have someadvertising value due to geo-location techniques.Geographically-specific advertisements may be provided to thegeo-located user, although there remains the possibility that suchadvertisements may be less accurately targeted than an advertisementwith a specific geographic affiliation.

Advertisements may also be more accurately tracked with regard to actualimpressions thereby allowing for more accurate determinations ofadvertising campaign value or proper remuneration to a provider of theadvertisement relative those impressions. For example, an advertisementmay have 1,000,000 impressions over a 2 week period. While this numbermay be impressive in a vacuum, when it is learned that 75% of thoseimpressions occurred in a geographic region where the product or serviceis unavailable, the number of impressions becomes much less valuable.Many of the impressions were wasted on portions of the consuming publicthat will not or, perhaps even worse, cannot purchase the service orproduct. Thus, an advertiser can purchase a particular number ofimpressions with the caveat that those impressions be within aparticular geographic region to count against a total overall ad buy.

Direct targeting of users may also take place using variations of theaforementioned identification methodologies. For example, in theregistration scenario, a user may provide certain ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes’in a user profile generated during the registration process. A user mayindicate favorite sports teams, favorite hobbies, and the like. As aresult of the user profile reflecting that a user is a Boston Red Soxfan, the user may be presented with certain advertisements that relateto World Series Memorabilia from the Red Sox 2004 World Series victory,and not a compilation of the New York Yankees World Series victories.Similarly, a user that identifies an affiliation with the San Francisco49ers may receive 49er related advertisements instead of advertisementsrelated to the Oakland Raiders. Alternative or more generic profilefactors may also be implemented and/or utilized as are available and/orrelevant to a particular advertiser.

This type of targeted advertising may be extremely useful when a productor service is available nationwide but has limited popularity or salesin particular regions. For example, a product may be available over theInternet (e.g., through Amazon.com) but also available at a number ofbrick and mortar stores in one particular region of the country (e.g.,the West Coast). A user on the East Coast might purchase these productsif he was aware of particular sale opportunities or new productreleases. If that user does not live on the West Coast where anadvertising campaign is in effect, however, they may never receiveadvertisements related to that product as advertising dollars have beenallocated to a in the locale where brick and mortar stores are located.If the East Coast user indicated an affinity for a particular product ina profile, advertisements can be presented to this user via the in-gameadvertising system 100 even though the user lives in a region whereproduct sales are otherwise low and advertising (in traditional mediaforms) is low or entirely non-existent. Through such targetedadvertising, not only are impressions generated amongst able buyers, butalso amongst willing and highly interested buyers making each impressionall the more valuable.

Certain learning intelligence may also be implemented to aid in thedirect or geographic targeting advertising process. For example, a gameuser may participate in an on-line baseball league. Registration forthat league may be limited solely to a user name and billinginformation. If the user resides in Southern California, it would be (asa broad-based assumption) unlikely for this game user to be a fan of theFlorida Marlins and (as another assumption) probably a fan of the LosAngeles Dodgers or the Anaheim Angels. Such assumptions may prove to befalse.

But if the same user, via the on-line baseball league, continuallyselects the Florida Marlins as his team of choice, the in-gameadvertising system 100 may recognize the repetitive behavior (e.g., theselection of a particular team, or a particular character in a game).Based on the repetitive behavior of the user, an assumptive profile of auser may be generated.

Further, if the user plays the networked/on-line baseball league fifteentimes and elects to play with the Marlins fourteen of those times, itwould be an intelligent assumption that the user is a Marlins fan eventhough the user lives in Southern California. As a result, certainadvertisements in the game environment may be directed toward fanmerchandise for the Florida Marlins, instead of for the Dodgers or arandom advertisement.

Such targeted advertising is not limited to favorites or affiliations ofthe user. Direct targeting may also utilize demographics such as gender,age, and the nature of the game itself. Gender may be specificallyidentified or presumed based on the content of a video game. Age may bebased on a specific identification or a presumption related to thematurity of a particular game. The nature of the game itself mayindicate demographic information of the user or relevant advertisingcontent. For example, a sports game may generate sports advertisementwhereas role playing games may generate advertisement specific to thenature of the game such as combat or fantasy. Various combinations orsubsets of targeted advertising may also be utilized (e.g., age andgender relative a particular genre of video game).

These intelligent determinations or analyses based on variousdemographics may take place at the advertisement server 130 via anappropriate software module providing for such deductive or intelligentdeterminations.

It should be noted that the present disclosure describes numerousinventive components that may operate individually or with otherinventive components outlined herein. One such inventivecomponent—tracking what advertisements the user sees—involves monitoringthe view perspective of the user (e.g., the point-of-view of the gamecharacter or of the actual user via a game camera) and calculating whenthe user has experienced an ad impression. One embodiment of this methodfurther allows for object occlusion detection. Such impressioninformation may then be returned to an ad server 130 or other componentof the system 100 as described in FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates line-of-sight obstacles as may be found in a gameenvironment 800. FIG. 8 illustrates a game character 810 (as reflectedby the camera icon), an advertisement 820, one or more obstacles 830-880and line-of-sight 890 relative the game character 810 and its currentviewing orientation to the advertisement 820. It should be noted thatany references to a game character in the present disclosure is alsoinclusive of a game camera as to include various points-of-view of thegame character of the video game as well as that of the actual user. Inone embodiment, the point-of-view is that of the actual user (player) ofthe video game such that the impression of an advertisement or otherinformation is actually that of the user as would be most like anadvertising impression in the real-world. Obstacles 830-880 may berepresentative of any object in the gaming environment 800. Walls,corners, pillars, objects (e.g., boxes, signs, rows of lockers, doors,etc.), other game characters, opaque glass or even other advertisements(that is, not advertisement 820) may be representative of the obstacles830-880.

In an ideal advertising environment, game character 810 andadvertisement 820 would be separated by an unbroken line-of-sight. Thatis, obstacles 830-880 would not break line-of-sight 890 whereby gamecharacter 810 (and its controlling user through, for example, afirst-person game view) would have a full and uninterrupted view of andexposure to advertisement 820. Such an uninterrupted view of andexposure to advertisement 820 is desirous in that it provides for anadvertising impression most like that as would be encountered in thereal-world (e.g., reading a newspaper advertisement, viewing a billboardor attentively viewing a television commercial). That is, persons in thereal-world are generally able to view an advertisement (or at leastposition themselves) such that other objects in the environment do notobscure a view of that advertisement.

But as is shown in FIG. 8, line-of-sight 890 is interrupted at multiplepoints by obstacles 830, 840 and 850. Obstacle 830 may be a stack ofboxes whereas obstacle 840 may be a soda machine while obstacle 850 maybe a corner in a hallway. The exact nature of obstacles 830, 840 and 850is irrelevant except for the fact that they are interruptingline-of-sight 890 between game character 810 and advertisement 820. Sucha scenario as illustrated in FIG. 8 is common in complex gameenvironments such as those offered by role-playing or first-personadventure games, where users navigate through the gaming environment 800and the objects that exist therein.

The interruption of the line-of-sight 890 as caused by obstacles 830,840 and 850 may partially (or wholly) prevent the character 810 fromviewing the advertisement 820. Depending on the exact angle of obstacles830, 840 and 850, the character 810 may be able to see certain portionsof advertisement 820, but those portions may be minimal compared to thegreater portion of the advertisement 820 obscured by obstacles 830, 840and 850. In some cases, an advertiser may have paid significant sums ofmoney for the placement of advertisement 820 in game environment 800.However, the advertisement 820 may never be viewed as was intended bythe advertiser (e.g., a full-frontal observation of the advertisement820 for a given period of time in order to allow the game usercontrolling game character 810 to review and comprehend theadvertisement 820). The advertiser may, therefore, have expended certainsums of money with absolutely no end benefit as the user of the game(via character 810) did not view the advertisement 820. This lack of anadvertisement impression results even though character 810 is actuallystanding directly in front of advertisement 820 and has theirline-of-sight 890 oriented in the same direction.

FIG. 9 illustrates a positional relationship between a game character920 and an advertisement 910 in a game environment 900, in oneembodiment in accordance with the present invention. In FIG. 9,advertisement 910 is located at a predetermined position in the gameenvironment 900. This positioning may be along a wall 950 in the gameenvironment 900. For example, advertisement 910 may be a posteradvertising an upcoming concert, advertisement 910 having been pushedinto the game environment 900 by various components of the in-gameadvertising system 100 (FIG. 1) (e.g., via asset tagging, whereby therelevance or ‘freshness’ of the advertisement 910 can be continuallyupdated after the initial release of the game). In the present example,the advertisement 910 (poster) may be positioned on the wall 950 of, forexample, a record store in the game environment 900.

The game character 920 may enter this particular portion of the gameenvironment 900 (the record store) through, for example, an entryway960. As can be seen in FIG. 9, the game character 920, upon initialentry into the game environment 900, may be standing directly adjacentto and oriented toward the advertisement 910. Due to the positioning ofthe game character 920 relative the advertisement 910, however, the gamecharacter may not be able to actually see or be exposed to theadvertisement 910 regardless of the orientation of the game character920 in the general direction of the poster (advertisement 910).

The game character's 920 inability to view the advertisement 910 in FIG.9 is a result of the game character 920 being outside an impression area930 defined, in part, by a combination of a first angle θ_(i) and asecond angle θ_(r) relative to a surface vector 940. The first angleθ_(i) is the angle measured from a ray 970 to the surface normal 990 (θ)wherein normal incidence is an angle of zero. The second angle θ_(r) isthe angle measured from a ray 980 to the surface normal 990. The secondangle θ_(r), at least with regard to isotropic surface, is identical tothe first angle θ_(i) (i.e., θ_(i)=θ_(r)). In FIG. 9, the first angleθ_(i) and the second angle θ_(r) each have an angle of about 30^(θ)relative the surface normal 990.

The surface vector 940 comprising a unit length (e.g., a distance fromthe advertisement) further defines the impression area 930 for apredetermined distance from the surface of the advertisement 910. Thesurface vector 940 relative the advertisement 910 is defined, forexample, as being 20 feet. Absent any obstructions in the impressionarea 930, if the game character 920 is within 20 feet of theadvertisement 910 and within the angles defined by first ray 970 andsecond ray 980 (i.e., +/−30° relative the surface normal 990), then thegame character 920 is within the impression area 930.

A user controlling the game character 920 within the impression area andfacing the advertisement 910 will be able to view the advertisement 910.That is, an impression will be established for the advertisement 910 aswould normally occur in the real world (e.g., while the user is standingin front of a billboard). Alternatively, if the game character 920 isnot within the impression area 930 as defined by first ray 970, secondray 980 and surface vector 940, then no impression is generated.

FIG. 10 illustrates a second positional relationship between a gamecharacter 1020 and an advertisement 1010 in a game environment 1000, inone embodiment in accordance with the present invention. The gameenvironment 1000 of FIG. 10 is similar to that illustrated in FIG. 9with the exception of the position of game character 1020. In FIG. 10,game character 1020 is positioned directly in front of and exposed tothe advertisement 1010.

An impression area 1030 is defined in a manner similar to that of FIG.9. That is, a first ray 1070 and a second ray 1080 relative surfacenormal 1090 in conjunction with surface vector/distance 1040. Becausegame character 1030 is located within the impression area 1030 of theadvertisement 1010, an advertising impression is generated.

FIG. 11A illustrates a positional relationship between a game character1120 and an advertisement 1130 relative an obstacle 1140 in animpression area 1110 in a game environment 1100, in one embodiment inaccordance with the present invention. The impression area 1110 of thegame environment 1100 is defined in a manner similar to that of FIGS. 9and 10 (e.g., a first and second ray relative a surface normal with apredetermined distance relative the advertisement 1130). Game character1120 is positioned within the impression area 1110 and the orientationof the line-of-sight of the game character 1120 is toward theadvertisement 1130. The line-of-sight from the game character 1120 tothe advertisement 1130 is, however, at least partially obscured by theobstacle 1140 within an obstructed area 1145.

With the increased graphic complexity of many video games, placement ofobjects about a game environment increasingly provides a challenge tocreating advertising impressions. For example, in FIG. 11A, due to theposition of the game character 1120 relative the obstacle 1140, the gamecharacter 1120 cannot view the advertisement 1130. Therefore, noadvertising impression is made to the user controlling the gamecharacter 1120.

Determining whether a game character falls within an obstructed area canbe accomplished by using line-of-sight determination. In FIG. 12,obstructed line-of-sight 1220 is shown between game character 1200 andadvertisement 1210, in one embodiment in accordance with the presentinvention. FIG. 12 also shows unobstructed line-of-sight 1250 betweengame character 1200 at a different position relative advertisement 1210.The determination of obstruction may be established by testingline-of-sight 1220 (or 1250) between game character 1200 (1200′) andadvertisement 1210 that passes through a center of obstruction probe1225.

In some embodiments, obstruction probe 1225 is a spherical object with apredetermined radius r. Obstruction probe 1225 travels along the line ofsight 1220 (or 1250) between game character 1200 (1200′) andadvertisement 1210. If obstruction probe 1225 does not collide with anyobstacles, then the line-of-sight between game character 1200 (1200′)and advertisement 1210 is unobstructed. If game character 1200 islocated in an impression area and oriented toward the advertisement1210, an impression of the advertisement 1210 is generated. Unobstructedline-of-sight 1250 illustrates the absence of object obstruction betweengame character 1200′ and advertisement 1210, which allows for anadvertising impression.

Alternatively, line-of-sight 1220 is obstructed as a result of one ormore objects 1230 _(a). . . 1230 _(c), preventing an advertisingimpression. If the obstruction probe 1225, while traveling along(obstructed) line-of-sight 1220 intersects one or more polygonal sides1240 _(a) . . . 1240 _(c) of one or more objects 1230 _(a) . . . 1230,where each of one or more objects 1230 _(a) . . . 1230 _(c) is typicallyconstructed from multiple polygonal sides 1240 _(a) . . . 1240 _(c),then an unobstructed view of the advertisement 1210 relative the gamecharacter 1200 is not possible and no advertising impression isgenerated notwithstanding the presence of the game character 1200 in animpression area. Such a scenario—an obstructed line-of-sight and absenceof an advertising impression despite being in an impression area—isillustrated in the aforementioned FIG. 11A.

In some embodiments of the present invention, partial viewing of andexposure to an advertisement may be sufficient to establish anadvertising impression. For example, certain trademarks or logos haveestablished a certain degree of notoriety within the purchasing public.For these famous or easily recognizable trademarks or logos, viewingeven a portion of the trademark or logo may be sufficient to establishan advertising impression. Similar ‘partial viewing impressions’ may beacceptable with regard to slogans, celebrities, famous spokespersons,and so forth. In these instances, even though the obstruction probe 1225may intersect with an object, if the intersection involves only a smallpercentage of the probe 1225, then a partial impression may begenerated. If the object obscures the advertisement in its entirety—100%of the probe 1225 intersects with the object—then no impression isgenerated.

The radius r of the obstruction probe 1225 may be reduced whereby acollision with a polygonal sides 1240 _(a) . . . 1240 _(c) of one ormore objects 1230 _(a) . . . 1230 _(c) may be avoided thus allowing foran unobstructed line-of-sight and, subject to presence in an impressionarea, establishing an advertising impression. In that regard, the radiusr of obstruction probe 1225 may be relative to an advertisement to beviewed. Information relative the setting of radius r may be part ofadvertising data pushed to a video game environment by the advertisingserver 130.

In some embodiments of the present invention, especially those involvingthird-person points-of-view, it may be possible to overcome obstructedlines-of-sight in an effort to create an unobstructed line-of-sight. Forexample, in an in-game advertising system 100 (FIG. 1) where payment ofadvertisement space is made in advance, an advertiser may seek to havetheir advertisement viewed at any cost. In these instances, a cameratracking the game character may be adjusted to provide an unobstructedline-of-sight to allow for viewing of the advertisement and creating anad impression. Exemplary systems and methods for providing anunobstructed view of an advertisement or other target are disclosed inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/268,495, which has previously beenincorporated by reference.

FIG. 11B illustrates a positional relationship between a game character1170 and an advertisement 1180 relative an obstacle 1190 in animpression area 1160 of a game environment 1150. The impression area1160 of the game environment 1150 and relative the advertisement 1180 isdefined in a manner similar to that of FIGS. 9 and 10 (e.g., a first andsecond angle relative a surface normal combined with a surface vector).Game character 1170 is positioned within the impression area 1160 but isnot in an obstructed area 1195 as would be generated by obstacle 1190like that described in FIG. 11A. A determination of the lack of anobstruction area 1195 or the game character 1170 not being positioned inan obstruction area 1195 is determined in a manner similar to that asdescribed in FIG. 12. In that regard, an obstruction probe traverses aline-of-sight between the game character 1170 and the advertisement 1180and does not intersect with a polygonal side of an object. The lack ofintersection thus indicates the presence of an unobstructedline-of-sight and the establishment of an advertisement impressionresulting from game character's 1170 exposure to the advertisement.

FIG. 13A illustrates the correlation between an impression counter 1360and the position of a game character 1320 relative an advertisement 1310in a game environment 1300. Impression counter 1360 measures the timeperiod that the game character 1320 is positioned in impression area1330 with an unobstructed line-of-sight 1350 relative the advertisement1310. As can be seen in FIG. 13A, game character 1320 has anunobstructed line-of-sight 1350 of and exposure to advertisement 1310notwithstanding the presence of object 1340 and obstructed area 1345.

It should be noted that impression counter 1360 is not necessarily astopwatch or other timing device as depicted in FIG. 13A. Impressioncounter 1360, in an embodiment of the present invention, is any timingmechanism governed by hardware or software relative an end-user clientdevice 170 (e.g., a gaming console) that may measure the time periodthat the game character 1320 is positioned in the impression area 1330with an unobstructed line-of-sight 1350 relative the advertisement 1310and may utilize various units and/or measurement schemes. In oneembodiment, a temporal period is used as a unit of measure (e.g.,seconds, fractions of seconds and so forth).

FIG. 13B further illustrates the correlation between an impressioncounter 1360 and the position of a game character 1320 relative anadvertisement 1310 in a game environment 1300. In FIG. 13B, however, thegame character 1320 has moved behind the object 1340 and into theobstructed area 1345. Notwithstanding the fact that the game character1320 remains within the impression area 1330, the game character 1320has an obstructed line-of-sight 1370 relative advertisement 1310. Whenthe line-of-sight of the game character 1320 relative the advertisement1310 becomes obstructed (as is reflected in FIG. 13B), the impressioncounter 1360 terminates. That is, an impression of the advertisement1310 is no longer being generated as the advertisement 1310 has beenobstructed from the game character's 1320 view.

By measuring the length of exposure to an advertisement via impressioncounter 1360, an advertiser can determine the value of an ad impressionor whether an impression has actually been made if the existence of animpression is tied to the duration of presence in the ad impression area(e.g., the time of exposure to the advertisement). For example, apricing model may be established wherein an advertiser is charged basedon the duration of the advertisement impression. The duration of theadvertisement impression is reflected by the impression counter 1360. Inanother pricing model, an advertiser may pay a fee for a certain numberof advertisement impressions. An ad impression may be defined asunobstructed exposure to an advertisement for a certain period of time.For example, and as evidenced in FIG. 13B, the game character 1320 is inthe defined impression area 1330 but is unable to actually view theadvertisement 1310. As such, the advertiser should not have the presenceof the game character 1320 in the impression area 1330 with no view ofthe actual advertisement 1310 constitute an advertisement impression.

The various ad impression determinations may be implemented utilizingsoftware downloads as discussed in the context of FIG. 2 or throughsoftware installed on physical media (e.g. a software client on anoptical disk) or may be pre-installed in a gaming device. Variousmodules that interact with the ad impression determination software(e.g., receiving ad impression information for reporting to anadvertiser) may be further located in various other aspects of system100 (e.g., at ad server 130).

As noted, various pricing models may be based upon the existence ofadvertising impressions or the quality thereof. For example, anadvertiser may be satisfied knowing that their advertising content hasmade it into a video game. Another advertiser may be more demanding andrequire information related to actual impressions. Using the methodologydescribed in FIG. 12 with regard to determining the existence ofunobstructed lines-of-sight it may be determined whether the useractually viewed the advertisement.

Even more specific, it may be determined how long the user viewed theadvertisement. For example, if a user is merely scanning around the roomfor an exit or a particular object, their line-of-sight may intersectwith the advertisement but the scanning of the room was too quick toallow for any meaningful consideration or understanding of what theadvertisement portrayed. In this scenario, a timer may be implemented aswas described in FIGS. 13A and 13B.

On an even more detailed level, it may be possible to determine thequality of the impression. For example, a user may view an advertisementas a result of being in an impression area. That user may, however, beon the very far edge of the impression area and have slight difficultyviewing the advertisement. This might be the case if a user is utilizinga later model television or computer monitor or is utilizing a computingdevice that has lower graphics processing power. Notwithstandinggraphics output considerations, it is possible to further delineate theimpression area into quality impression areas whereby the advertisementis viewed in every instance but better or worse depending on the exactplacement of the game character when viewing the advertisement.

A game character may be face-to-face with an advertisement. Thecharacter, while clearly within the impression area, may be so close tothe advertisement that he cannot fully view the advertisement or thecopy that he can view is blurred because of the close proximity of thecharacter relative the advertisement in the gaming environment.Similarly, a user may be too far away to fully appreciate theadvertisement. Through delineating quality impressions, advertisers canappreciate a minimal impression (e.g., up close or almost too far away)but also have certain assurances with regard to quality impressions asmay be subject to the particular whims of the advertiser.

Various pricing schemes may be based upon these various levels orquality of impression whereby a general impression is charged at onerate while a higher quality impression is charged at a different rate.Similarly, the length of time a user is in an impression area can becorrelated to a pricing model. For example, if a user is in animpression area for 2-seconds, an impression may have been made butpossibly a minimal one due to the complexity of the advertisement. Ifthe user is in the impression area for 10-seconds, a greater impressionhas been made and has greater value to the advertiser. Limits may beimposed on such an impression counter such that an advertiser is notcharged for a 30-minute impression when a user happens to position hisgame character in front of an advertisement and then leave to attend toanother task for half-an-hour. Notwithstanding the presence in theimpression area for that period of time, a thirty-minute impression hasnot truly been made as the user of the game (the controller of thecharacter) has not been subjected to that advertising copy.

Traditional economic aspects of supply and demand may also come intoplay with various pricing models. For example, if a game is releasedwith great fanfare and is a ‘must buy for the holiday season,’ ad buysin the game may be more expensive. If the game layer proves to beunpopular for a variety of reasons, the pricing levels may decrease toreflect the demand of the game. These determinations as to supply anddemand may be made, in part, based on the location and intrinsic valuedefinition of specific tags, the demand for a tag as driven by thenumber of times tagged assets in a video game are identified duringaverage, peak and off-peak game play thereby resulting in variousrequests to the advertising server 130, which may be counted as havebeen previously described in the context of FIG. 2.

Similarly, certain video games may have indicia identifying a distinctowner as a result of a user profile or information embedded on the gameor subject to, for example, a network address. An advertiser may alsodetermine that while 1,000 impressions may have occurred for theiradvertisement on a particular day that almost half of those were relatedto a small group of users who continually entered a gaming environmentwhere the advertisement was rendered time-and-again versus 1,000impressions distributed more equally amongst 800 different, unique gameplayers. The impressions in the latter example are more valuable thenthe repeated impressions amongst a small group of users in the firstexample.

Certain embodiments of the exemplary in-game advertising system 100described in the present invention may also allow for certaininteractions with the products advertised in a video game. For example,a game player might approach a vending machine whereby a variety ofbeverages are available and effectively advertised via their labeling,trademarks or other visual indicia. A user might select a particularbeverage for his character to enjoy in the course of the video game bypressing a button on his keypad that corresponds to purchasing aparticular beverage from the vending machine. These ‘virtual purchases’may be conveyed to advertisers in that the advertisement has not onlymade an advertising impression in that a user has seen the product orrelated advertising but taken some sort of positive interaction with theproduct (e.g., purchasing the product in the video game).

Similar game metrics may be implemented with regard to negativeconnotations. For example, if four beverages are available, the user'sselection of one beverage may reflect negatively as to the other three.By further example, a user may be presented with a vending machine fortwo competing beverages; if the user takes some action relative one ofthe vending machines (e.g., destroying it with a weapon), that act toomay reflect negatively relative advertising metric information.

Through tracking user interactions with advertisements in a video gameenvironment, the video game effectively becomes a user feedback servicesimilar to an advertising focus group. Feedback may also be registeredthrough explicit interactions wherein a user may expressly provide theiropinion of a product or service relative the game environment. Forexample, the user may be prompted as to their opinion of a particularproduct; the user may then press ‘up’ for a positive reflection or‘down’ for a negative reflection.

Interactions via, for example, a microphone input are also possiblewherein the user provides feedback in connection with the advertisement.Such feedback may be transmitted to an agent on the other end of thecommunication channel or passed through speech recognition softwarewherein certain keywords as they relate to a product are recognized andcategorized.

To address the feedback features, the impression tracking system mayinclude functions or may interact with functions capable of solicitingor recording user reaction to an advertising campaign. For example, anadvertiser may deploy an advertising campaign defined by advertisingcontent that is loaded into a tag with program or pointer to program(s).Such programs may signal the user to perform actions. Other programs maymonitor user reaction in and about the advertisement or in responsethereto. For example, one such program that may be invoked whenaccessing a loaded advertisement tag includes a reference to a speechinput requirements and definitions.

Advertising beyond the traditional flat, print advertisement may also beimplemented utilizing the presently described in-game advertising system100. For example, in addition to billboards or single page ad copy,rotating billboards may be utilized wherein triangular panels in thebillboard rotate relative to one another thereby effectively providingthree-billboards-in-one. The billboard panels then rotate every fewseconds to reflect a new advertisement on each panel as occurs in thereal-world. In this way, a single game asset can be tagged for multipleadvertisement introductions.

Other ads in a game environment may be movable. For example,advertisements may be located on the sides of buses that traverse citystreets or a series of flyers that might blow down an alley. Televisionads with full motion video and audio ads as might be emitted over aradio or a telephone in a gaming environment are also envisioned asbeing implemented in the present invention.

Just as certain advertisements have higher demand in the real-world(e.g., high traffic areas), certain advertisements in a video gameenvironment may enjoy higher pricing as a result of high traffic areas.For example, advertisements that appear in the beginning of a video gameor a level wherein every user will view the advertisement inherentlyhave more value than an advertisement located in a ‘secret Easter Egg’level or extremely difficult level that many users may never reach.

Other embodiments of the present invention may include rewards based onuser interaction with particular advertisements. For example, if a userprovides actual feedback in a video game environment, the user mayreceive merchandise, points or coupon rewards from the producer of theproduct as an appreciation for their opinion. Such informationconcerning where to send a reward may be expressly provided during afeedback session or as a result of an association with a user profile.This latter case would be valuable wherein points or rewards are offeredfor less explicit interactions (e.g., not in response to anadvertiser/feedback query) such as casual interactions or favorablebehavior relative an advertised product and points or rewards accumulateover time.

Advertisements, especially those ads that are audible in nature or arefull motion video, may be subject to real-time limitations. For example,a user in a video game may be changing the channels of a television inthe video game environment. If the user only watches two seconds of theadvertisement, an impression may or may not be generated. Suchlimitations in the case of real-time advertising may be subject not onlyto an impression area but also an impression time and even an impressiontime relative particular portions of the advertisement.

For example, an advertisement may be thirty-seconds in length but thefirst five-seconds do not indicate the nature of the product and thelast five-seconds concern legal boilerplate required by the particularadvertisement. If an impression time is identified as five-seconds,watching the first or last five-seconds of this particular advertisementwould technically constitute an impression notwithstanding the fact thatthe user knows nothing more about the product after those five-secondsthan he did prior. In these cases, limitations as to impressions ofparticular portions of an advertisement may be implemented. For example,for an advertiser to consider there to have been an impression, the usermust not only view five-seconds of the advertisement but thosefive-seconds must be within the middle 20-seconds of the 30-secondadvertisement.

Video or audio ads may also be subject to start-stop loops. That is, theadvertisement starts when the user accesses the advertisement (e.g.,tunes to a radio station playing the advertisement) and then stops whenthe user leaves the advertisement (e.g., changes the radio to anotherstation). If the user then changes back to the original station with theadvertisement, the ad may commence where it left off as if no time haspassed. Such a methodology better ensures an impression but does so atthe risk compromising reality (i.e., real-time passage of time is not ineffect). The tag object may track the state of the advertisementimpression, such as the index into the location in a video file to startthe next sequence for the one or more tags associated with theadvertising video loop.

Video games, radios and televisions that offer the user the ability tochange channels may be associated with features to track multipleadvertisement impressions and campaigns. When a user changes a channelor directs a virtual character in the game environment to change achannel, new advertisements may be provided. Such advertisement changesmay be transitioned with white noise or a familiar blur associated withchanging a channel according to the nature of the device. Radio ortelevision devices may be configured with channels that access bothtraditional programming, advertisement content or other content. Othercontent may include chat wherein the device facilitates communications.Other content may also include other information in connection with thegame. Generally, the mixing of advertisement and other content in suchdevices may have the benefit of catalyzing user exposure toadvertisements since the use of the device and changing of the channelsmay be necessary to facilitate game play.

Other advertisements may be rendered or emitted in true real-time. Forexample, if a television advertisement in a video game is two minutes inlength and the user changes the channel in the video game afterthirty-seconds of viewing the advertisement but comes back to the samechannel thirty-seconds later, the advertisement will now be at the 60second point and not the 30 second point as in a start-stop embodiment.

While real-time advertisements may be more realistic, ensuring animpression becomes more difficult relative the portion of theadvertisement the user viewed as has been previously noted. Certainimpression, especially in the real-time video and audio sense, may besubject to ongoing impression limitations. For example, an impressionmay constitute viewing 30 seconds of a one minute advertisement. Theuser may, at one point in the game, view a first 10-seconds of theadvertisement, view a second 10-seconds at a different point in the gameand view yet another 10-seconds at another point in the game. In thisinstance, the user—albeit piecemeal—may have viewed enough of the adover the course of time to constitute an impression.

Other advertisements may limit an impression opportunity to consecutivetime or such piecemeal viewing/listening but within an overall timeframe. For example, viewing the advertisement in 10-second snippets maysuffice as an advertisement but they must occur within 15 minutes of oneanother. Other advertisements may require the thirty-seconds to occurconsecutively or an impression has not been established.

Some of these real-time/consecutive impression implications addressedabove are reflected in FIG. 14 of the present application. FIG. 14illustrates the positional relationship of an in-motion game character1420 relative an advertisement 1410 in an impression area 1430 in a gameenvironment 1400. In FIG. 14, the game character 1420 is positioned inthe impression area 1430 of advertisement 1410. The impression area 1430is also populated with obstacles 1440 _(A) . . . 1440 _(D). As the gamecharacter 1420 traverses the game environment 1400, the line-of-sight ofthe game character changes from an obstructed line-of-sight (as wouldoccur behind obstacles 1440 _(A) . . . 1440 _(D)) and an unobstructedline-of-sight 1450 _(A) . . . 1450 _(D). An impression counter (notshown) would move between an on-and-off state as the line-of-sightalternates between obstructed and unobstructed (1450 _(A) . . . 1450_(D)) lines-of sight.

For example, as the game character 1420 moves past object 1440 _(A), theimpression counter would begin to measure the existence of an adimpression as provided by unobstructed line-of-sight 1450 _(A). As thegame character passes behind object 1440 a, the impression counter wouldstop measuring the existence of an advertisement impression as a resultof now obstructed line-of-sight. Once the game character 1420 emergesfrom behind object 1440 a, an unobstructed line-of-sight (1450 _(B))once again exists and the impression counter again would begin tomeasure the existence of an advertisement impression from the stop pointof the previous impression. The measurement of an advertisementimpression would continue in a similar fashion as the game character1420 passes in between remaining objects 1440 _(B). . . 1440 _(D).

In the present embodiment, as the impression counter starts-and-stops,any one segment of time correlating to an advertisement impression maynot constitute a single advertisement impression. The ongoing exposureto the advertisement 1410, albeit in an interrupted fashion, may overthe course of time constitute an ad impression. For example, by theimpression counter reaching a certain time period (e.g., from startpoint to a point three seconds in time later), this time period may (asa whole) constitute an ad impression. Such a measurement methodologywould be desirous in instances where a game character passes by, forexample, a number of pillars; a rod iron fence, a series of windows, ora crowded room.

The above description is illustrative and not restrictive. Manyvariations of the invention will become apparent to those of skill inthe art upon review of this disclosure. The scope of the inventionshould, therefore, be determined not with reference to the abovedescription, but instead should be determined with reference to theappended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.

For example, the embedded advertising ‘tags’ as described in the presentinvention may be further applied to digital video and audiosignals—television and audio broadcasts, for example—as well as moviesfilmed in a digital format whereby advertisements or other content maybe inserted into previously generated audio and/or video content.On-line media such as on-line magazines, newspapers and blogs may alsobenefit from the implementation of tagging advertising assets (e.g.,particular column inches or steaming news broadcasts) as present-dayadvertising methodologies such as pop-ads become less effective and/orless popular. Advertising content may be offered by network and/orcontent providers (e.g., cable providers) whereby advertising content isoffered on-demand.

Additionally, the various impression area and occlusion conceptsdisclosed herein may be applied to audio advertisements or other audibleemissions. For example, a radio or other audio emitting object may bedefined, in part, by an impression area. Such an impression area wouldbe determined in a manner similar to an impression area as it concerns avisual advertisement. An impression area in the context of audio wouldbe representative of where an audio advertisement or other audioemission may be heard by the character in a game environment as thevolume of the audio emission decreases as the character moves furtheraway from the advertisement in three-dimensional space or if thecharacter is located behind an object in which case the occlusiondetermination concepts become applicable (e.g., does a wall separate thecharacter and the audio signal). The quality of audio impressions mayalso be determined in a manner similar to quality determinations withvisual advertisements with regard to not only distance but the extent towhich an intermediate object might absorb the sound, for example, a paneof soundproof glass versus a thinly constructed wall.

The asset tagged to receive an advertisement may be movable androtatable and may be programmed to dynamically orientate towards theuser camera as the user manipulates around the game environment. Adcampaigns may be interleaved with special programming. Specialprogramming may influence ad campaigns, variables in the tags relatingto the ad campaigns, or may relate to the game environment. Specialprogramming may influence (e.g., terminate or replace) an ad campaign ormodify variables or functions contained in an ad campaign or tag.Special programming may accommodate for dynamic reconfiguration andreuse of an advertising asset. For example, special programming ay beused to communicate special messages, game messages, forum messages,facilitate chat and so forth. Special programming may also be used totransfer control of the advertising asset to the game environment sothat the advertising real estate can be used to convey game informationand other information.

Notwithstanding the providing of detailed descriptions of exemplaryembodiments, it is to be understood that the present invention may beembodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed hereinare not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for theclaims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the artto employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailedsystem, structure, method, process, or manner.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for determining a line-of-sight path tomedia content, the method comprising: storing information regarding aplurality of digital content files in memory, each digital content fileassociated with a specified level of partial obstruction; associating atleast one of the digital content files with an obstruction probe,wherein a size of the obstruction probe corresponds to the specifiedlevel of partial obstruction; defining a portion of a digitalenvironment as a media content area, wherein the digital environmentincludes one or more objects; evaluating a line-of-sight associated withthe at least one digital content file at the defined media content areaby identifying whether the obstruction probe traveling along theline-of-sight collides with one or more of the objects; and processinginteraction with the at least one digital content file at the definedmedia content area based on the evaluated line-of-sight.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the obstruction probe is a spherical object, andwherein the size corresponds to a radius of the spherical object.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the line-of-sight corresponds to a pathbetween a surface of the defined media content area and a viewpoint inthe digital environment.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the viewpointis associated with at least one of an avatar of a user and a camera. 5.The method of claim 4, further comprising adjusting the camera based onthe evaluated line-of-sight.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising adjusting the size of the obstruction probe when a differentdigital content file is placed in the media content area, the adjustedsize corresponding to the specified level of obstruction associated withthe different digital content file.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinevaluating the line-of-sight is based on an amount of the obstructionprobe that collides with the one or more objects.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising receiving a setting sent over a communicationnetwork from a server, wherein the setting specifies the level ofpartial obstruction associated with the at least one digital contentfile.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the interaction withthe at least one digital content file at the defined media content areaincludes establishing an impression based on the evaluatedline-of-sight.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising updatingthe evaluation of the line-of-sight based on movement by at least one ofthe media content area or one of the objects.
 11. A system fordetermining a line-of-sight path to media content, the systemcomprising: memory that stores information regarding a plurality ofdigital content files, each file associated with a specified level ofpartial obstruction; and a processor that executes instructions storedin the memory, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:associate at least one of the digital content files with an obstructionprobe, wherein a size of the obstruction probe corresponds to thespecified level of partial obstruction; define a portion of a digitalenvironment as a media content area, wherein the digital environmentincludes one or more objects; evaluate a line-of-sight associated withthe at least one digital content file at the defined media content areaby identifying whether the obstruction probe traveling along theline-of-sight collides with one or more of the objects; and processinteraction with the at least one digital content file at the definedmedia content area based on the evaluated line-of-sight.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein the obstruction probe is a spherical object, andwherein the size corresponds to a radius of the spherical object. 13.The system of claim 11, wherein the line-of-sight corresponds to a pathbetween a surface of the defined media content area and a viewpoint inthe digital environment.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein theviewpoint is associated with at least one of an avatar of a user and acamera.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor executesfurther instructions to adjust the camera based on the evaluatedline-of-sight.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the processorexecutes further instructions to adjust the size of the obstructionprobe when a different digital content file is placed in the mediacontent area, the adjusted size corresponding to the specified level ofobstruction associated with the different digital content file.
 17. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the processor evaluates the line-of-sightbased on an amount of the obstruction probe that collides with the oneor more objects.
 18. The system of claim 11, further comprising acommunication interface that communicates over a communication networkto receive a setting sent from a server, wherein the setting specifiesthe level of partial obstruction associated with the at least onedigital content file.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the processorprocesses the interaction with the at least one digital content file atthe defined media content area by establishing an impression based onthe evaluated line-of-sight.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein theprocessor executes further instructions to update the evaluation of theline-of-sight based on movement by at least one of the media contentarea or one of the objects.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by aprocessor to perform a method for determining a line-of-sight path tomedia content, the method comprising: storing information regarding aplurality of digital content files in memory, each digital content fileassociated with a specified level of partial obstruction; associating atleast one of the digital content files with an obstruction probe,wherein a size of the obstruction probe corresponds to the specifiedlevel of partial obstruction; defining a portion of a digitalenvironment as a media content area, wherein the digital environmentincludes one or more objects; evaluating a line-of-sight associated withthe at least one digital content file at the defined media content areaby identifying whether the obstruction probe traveling along theline-of-sight collides with one or more of the objects; and processinginteraction with the at least one digital content file at the definedmedia content area based on the evaluated line-of-sight.